• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.202-209
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined whether various lower extremity exercises using a Swiss ball in the standing position could improve balance, muscle strength, gait, and fall efficacy in stroke patients. Methods: Twenty-one stroke patients were randomly divided into three groups, each with seven participants. For four weeks, experimental group 1 performed various lower extremity exercises using a Swiss ball, while experimental group 2 executed the same exercises without a Swiss ball, and the control group underwent general physical therapy. The subjects' knee extensor muscle strength, balance, gait, and fall efficacy were evaluated before and after the intervention using portable muscle strength measurement, the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), G-walk, and the Korean Falls Efficacy Scale (K-FES). Results: Knee extensor strength increased significantly in all three groups after the intervention; in particular, a significant increase was seen in experimental groups 1 and 2 compared to the control group. Moreover, all three groups had significantly better BBS scores and higher cadence after the intervention; notably, experimental group 1 had better scores and increased cadence than the control group. Additionally, gait speed was significantly increased in the experimental group 1 than in the control group. The step length of the non-affected leg was also significantly higher in the same group. The K-FES score improved significantly in all three groups, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: This study suggests that lower extremity exercises with or without a Swiss ball could be effective interventions to improve muscle strength, balance, gait, and fall efficacy in stroke patients.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.480-486
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• 2021

Magnetoelectric (ME) composite is composed of a piezoelectric material and a magnetostrictive material. Among various ME structures, 2-2 type layered ME composites are anticipated to be used as high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy harvesting devices especially operating at its resonance modes. Rosen type piezoelectric transducer using piezoelectric material is known to amplify a small electrical input voltage to a large electrical output voltage. The output voltage of these Rosen type piezoelectric transducers can be further enhanced by modifying them into ME composite structures. Herein, we fabricated Rosen type ME composites by sandwiching Rosen type PMN-PZT single crystal between two Ni layers and studied their ME coupling. However, the voltage step-up ratio at the resonance frequency was found to be smaller than the value calculated with α_ME value. The ATILA FEA (Finite Elements Analysis) simulation results showed that the position of the nodal point was changed with the presence of a magnetostrictive layer. Thus, while designing a Rosen type ME composite with high performance in a resonant driving situation, it is necessary to optimize the position of the nodal point by optimizing the thickness or length of the magnetostrictive layer.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2021

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the changes in muscle strength and walking ability in patients who complained of knee instability due to excessive pronation of the foot. METHODS: Twenty patients (ten men and ten women) who complained of instability of the knee joint due to excessive pronation of the foot participated in the experiment. In the experimental group, the internal rotation of the tibia caused by excessive adduction of the foot was maintained as external rotation, and the joint state was to recognize the movement of the joint position changed through maintenance of the muscle. This exercise was performed five times for each patient, and the muscle strength maintenance was performed for 20 seconds. In the control group, stretching and range of motion (ROM) exercises were performed. For the stretching exercise, one specific motion was performed for 20 second, and the ROM exercise was performed to confirm the change in muscle strength in the knee joint area and walking ability. RESULTS: The knee flexion and extension strength in the patients with excessive pronation of the foot differed significantly from those in the subjects from the control group (p<.05). Further, the before-after comparison of the step time and length in the evaluation of walking ability, which affects overall postural movement due to knee joint instability, revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p<.05). CONCLUSION: The patients that were subjected to manual therapy and ROM exercise for the knee joint showed improved knee joint muscle strength and walking ability compared to the subjects from the control group.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.665-669
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• 2018

In this paper, we design an antenna for LTE / Wi-Fi communication that operates in 2.65 GHz and 5 GHz band for small-sized broadband communication antenna that can be used in the sea. Microstrip patch antennas were chosen to improve the bandwidth. The slot width, length, and transmission line width were calculated using the theoretical formula for each step. In addition, we designed a microstrip antenna using CST Microwave Studio 2014 program that can design 3D. Simulation results show that the reflection lossis -12.712 dB at 2.65 GHz and -16.583 dB at 5 GHz. The gain was 1.738 dBi at 2.65 GHz and 3.284 dBi at 5 GHz. In this paper, we propose a dual-band antenna for LTE / Wi-Fi, which can be used in maritime environments, which is worse than terrestrial communication, because of differences in communication speed and communication stability compared with those used on land.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.960-966
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• 2018

Communication antennas used at sea have been developed remarkably. However, the speed of this development is insufficient when compared with user demands. Therefore, we developed an antenna for UWB/Bluetooth that operates on 3 [GHz] and 5.72 [GHz] bands in order to use the high-speed communication network system which improved antenna miniaturization, gain and radiation patterns. To improve bandwidth, a microstrip patch antenna was selected and CST Microwave Studio 2014 program was used. Through the program, we calculated the slot width, length, transmission line width, etc. using a theoretical formula at each step. These figures were checked through simulation to see if they meet production standards. UWB for high-speed wireless communication for short-range communication at sea, Bluetooth for exchanging information at a short distance by connecting each device, and corresponding technology can be easily utilized.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.339-351
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study is to estimate empirically whether there is a difference in medical use among income groups, and if so, how much. This study applies econometric model to the most recent year of Korean Medical Panel, 2015. The model consists of outpatient service and inpatient service models. Methods: The probit model is applied to the model which indicate whether or not the medical care has been used. Two step estimation method using maximum likelihood estimation is applied to the models of outpatient visits, hospital days, and outpatient and inpatient out-of-pocket cost models, with disconnected selection problems. Results: The results show that there was the inequality favorable to the low income group in medical care use. However, after controlling basic medical needs, there were no inequities among income groups in the outpatient visit model and the model of probability of inpatient service use. However, there were inequities favorable to the upper income groups in the models of probability of outpatient service use and outpatient out-of-pocket cost and the models of the number of length of stay and inpatient out-of-pocket cost. In particular, it shows clearly how the difference in outpatient service and inpatient service utilizations by income groups when basic medical needs are controlled. Conclusion: This means that the income contributes significantly to the degree of inequality in outpatient and inpatient care services. Therefore, the existence of medical care use difference under the same medical needs among income groups is a problem in terms of equity of medical care use, so great efforts should be made to establish policies to improve equity among income groups.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1293-1316
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• 2021

Using directional antennas in wireless Ad hoc networks has many superiorities, including reducing interference, extending transmission range, and increasing space division multiplexing. However, directional transmission introduces two problems: deafness and directional hidden terminals problems. We observe that these problems result in saturation throughput disparity among the competing flows in directional CSMA/CA based Ad hoc networks and bring challenges for modeling the saturation throughput of the flows. In this article, we concentrate on how to model and analyze the saturation throughput disparity of different flows in directional CSMA/CA based Ad hoc networks. We first divide the collisions occurring in the transmission process into directional instantaneous collisions and directional persistent collisions. Then we propose a four-dimensional Markov chain to analyze the transmission state for a specific node. Our model has three different kinds of processes, namely back-off process, transmission process and freezing process. Each process contains a certain amount of continuous time slots which is defined as the basic time unit of the directional CSMA/CA protocols and the time length of each slot is fixed. We characterize the collision probabilities of the node by the one-step transition probability matrix in our Markov chain model. Accordingly, we can finally deduce the saturation throughput for each directional data stream and evaluate saturation throughput disparity for a given network topology. Finally, we verify the accuracy of our model by comparing the deviation of analytical results and simulation results.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2021

Background: Although symmetry of spatio-temporal parameter and center of pressure (COP) shift during walking is associated with knee adduction moment, research on clinical association with knee osteoarthritis (OA)-related knee pain and functional scores is lacking. Objects: The aims were 1) to compare symmetry of gait parameters and COP-shift in patients with unilateral knee OA and pain and matched controls, and 2) to investigate the relationship between symmetry of gait parameters and COP-shift, and clinical measures. Methods: Female subjects (n = 16) had with unilateral radiological knee OA and pain. Healthy controls (n = 15) were age-matched to OA group. Symmetry of foot rotation, step length, stance and swing phase, lateral symmetry of COP and anterior/posterior symmetry of COP during walking was assessed. To assess the clinical variables, pain intensity, pain duration and function using Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Survey (KOOS) subscales were collected. We compared symmetry between groups using Mann-Whitney U-test or independent t-test. Relationships between clinical measures and symmetry index measured using Spearman's correlation test. Statistical significance was set at α = 0.05. Results: Knee OA group showed significantly greater values of only lateral symmetry of COP (p < 0.01) than healthy group. Values of lateral symmetry of COP had moderate or strong correlation significantly with the intensity of knee pain, pain duration, and scores of all KOOS subscales (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Patients with unilateral knee OA and pain showed more asymmetry of lateral COP-shift during walking compared with matched healthy controls. In addition, larger asymmetry of lateral COP-shift has the moderate or strong association with worse of knee pain, worse in KOOS scores and longer duration of knee pain. Asymmetry of lateral COP-shift during walking may be one of the characteristics of unilateral knee OA as the compensatory strategy response to unilateral OA of the knee.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.803-813
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• 2021

Coastal erosion has been a threat to coastal communities and emerged as an urgent problem. Among the coastal communities that are under perceived threat, Cotonou located in Benin, West Africa, is considered as one of the most dangerous area due to its high vulnerability. To address this problem, in 2013, the Benin authorities established seven groynes at east of Cotonou port, and two additional intermediate groynes have recently been integrated in April 2018. However, there is no quantitative analysis of groynes so far, so it is hard to know how effective they have been. To analyze effectiveness, we used optical satellite images from different time periods, especially 2004 and 2020, and then compared changes in length, width and area of shoreline in Cotonou. The study area is divided into two sectors based on the location of Cotonou port. The difference of two areas is that Sector 2 has groynes installed while Sector 1 hasn't. As result of this study, shoreline in Sector 1 showed accretion by recovering 1.20 km² of area. In contrast, 3.67 km² of Sector 2 disappeared due to coastal erosion, although it has groynes. This may imply that groynes helped to lessen the rate of average erosion, however, still could not perfectly stop the coastal erosion in the area. Therefore, for the next step, we assume it is recommended to study how to maximize effectiveness of groynes.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.49.1-49.11
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• 2021

Nowadays, Genomic data constitutes one of the fastest growing datasets in the world. As of 2025, it is supposed to become the fourth largest source of Big Data, and thus mandating adequate high-performance computing (HPC) platform for processing. With the latest unprecedented and unpredictable mutations in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the research community is in crucial need for ICT tools to process SARS-CoV-2 RNA data, e.g., by classifying it (i.e., clustering) and thus assisting in tracking virus mutations and predict future ones. In this paper, we are presenting an HPC-based SARS-CoV-2 RNAs clustering tool. We are adopting a data science approach, from data collection, through analysis, to visualization. In the analysis step, we present how our clustering approach leverages on HPC and the longest common subsequence (LCS) algorithm. The approach uses the Hadoop MapReduce programming paradigm and adapts the LCS algorithm in order to efficiently compute the length of the LCS for each pair of SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences. The latter are extracted from the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Virus repository. The computed LCS lengths are used to measure the dissimilarities between RNA sequences in order to work out existing clusters. In addition to that, we present a comparative study of the LCS algorithm performance based on variable workloads and different numbers of Hadoop worker nodes.